MONDE PREACHES NATIONAL UNITY: says President Hichilema should endeavour to unitethe country by balancing appointments into government

By NATION REPORTER 

PRESIDENT Hichilema is the leader for all Zambians irrespective of their ethnicity or region and should therefore endeavour to balance his appointments into government, Greyford Monde has said.

Mr Monde says President Hichilema was elected by Zambians across their ethnicity and regions inclination and should ensure Zambia remains united by balancing his appointments into government as he had pledged when he was in the opposition.

Mr Monde, the Patriotic Front (PF) presidential candidate says it would be disheartening to see Zambia being divided on tribal and ethnic lines when the Head of State had promised to unite the country by balancing his appointments because tribe or region has never been a qualification for one to get a government job.

He however said he did not agree with the appointment of Mwangala Zaloumis and McDonald Chipenzi as Chairperson and Commissioner of the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) respectively.

Mr Monde stated that it would be foolhardy to expect the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) under UPND zealots, Mwangala Zaloumis and McDonald Chipenzi to be a neutral umpire in the management of the country’s electoral system when the two are ardent and undisputed members of the ruling party.

Mr Monde said it was not a secret that while Ms Zaloumis was a confirmed UPND sympathiser, Mr Chipenzi had on the other hand applied to contest the Chirundu parliamentary seat in the 2021 general elections on its ticket.

He said it was utopian for anyone to think Ms Zaloumis and Mr Chipenzi would govern the ECZ in the interest of Zambians because their interest would be to protect and promote interests of the UPND.

In an interview, Mr Monde said while he hailed from the region from which President Hichilema had concentrated his appointments into government, he was not going to celebrate their achievements when the majority of Zambians from other regions were being marginalised and treated like second class citizens.

Mr Monde said it was the first time in the democratic history of the country that known political party cadres had been appointed to superintend over the ECZ, stating that Zambians never witnessed the politicisation of the electoral body both in the MMD and PF administrations respectively. 

He said it was dangerous that President Hichilema had decided to turn the ECZ into an appendage of the UPND in his quest to entrench himself and remain in power beyond the term Zambians had given him in 2021.

“Each time you see a President making appointments to institutions of good governance based on ethnicity and regionalism, it mean he is preparing to remain in power beyond the term given to him by citizens. 

“The appointments of my mother, Ms Zaloumis and Mr Chipenzi has certainly taken away the autonomy of the Commission. This is a political calculation for the UPND to remain in power by all means beyond the term he has been given. The UPND has turned the ECZ into its own club as Ms Zaloumis and Mr Chipenzi are well-known cadres of the ruling party,” Mr Monde said.   

And Mr Monde said it was politically obscene for the UPND to have decided to govern the country through the lens of tribalism, regionalism and ethnicity, the vices they strongly condemned while in opposition.

He said it was dangerous that most of the appointments into government were skewed to a selected region.

stating that Zambians were seeing the perceived regional and tribal engagements and were observing with keenness 

Mr Monde said the regional appointments into government had cannibalised the country’s unity and tribal balancing that President Hichilema had promised Zambians that his government was going to be all inclusive.

“As a leader, it is my view he should have balanced the scale in his appointments because such acts have the potential to affect the economy. Now we are seeing appointments that are considering region as a qualification. The ne Zambia One Nation motto should not just be a slogan but should be practical. 

I come from the region where much of the people appointed are my brothers and sisters, it should not be the new norm because we cannot have one side of the country getting the best of the national cake,” Mr Monde said.